Directs the commissioner of education to establish a statewide school safety tip line to permit students and others to report information related to incidents of students causing harm to the physical or mental health of another student or school employee, or a threat of such harm.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4741
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 6, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. RAJKUMAR -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to establishing a state-
wide school safety tip line
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 319 to
2 read as follows:
3 § 319. Statewide school safety tip line. 1. The commissioner shall
4 establish a statewide school safety tip line. The tip line shall be a
5 statewide telecommunications resource that accepts information via tele-
6 phone, text message, the internet, or any other medium for the purpose
7 of reporting information related to incidents of students causing harm
8 to the physical or mental health of another student or school employee,
9 or a threat of such harm.
10 2. The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations necessary
11 to operate the tip line, including, but not limited to:
12 (a) provisions which protect the personally identifiable information
13 of the person reporting information but which permit local law enforce-
14 ment or school personnel to follow up on such reports or obtain further
15 information from the person making the report;
16 (b) procedures for logging reports received on the tip line;
17 (c) referral of information to school districts or law enforcement;
18 and
19 (d) tracking outcomes of any action taken in response to the referral.
20 3. Any person authorized to receive personally identifiable informa-
21 tion through the tip line may only disclose such information for the
22 purpose of making follow-up contact or obtaining or providing further
23 information, unless such disclosure is required by another provision of
24 law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08577-01-5
A. 4741 2
1 4. Nothing in this section shall prevent the department from releasing
2 aggregated or summary data for reporting purposes; or educating the
3 public about the tip line through narratives of cases, without disclo-
4 sure of personally identifiable information.
5 5. Every public school building shall display one or more signs adver-
6 tising the tip line that is visible to school employees, students, and
7 parents or guardians.
8 6. The statewide tip line mandated under this section shall not
9 preclude operation of any other such tip line or other similar resource
10 operated regionally or by a school district in this state.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
12 have become a law.
